AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Physicians at Doctor's Hospital in Augusta said Tuesday afternoon that the condition of Aimee Copeland, the University of West Georgia grad student suffering from a flesh eating bacteria, has been upgraded from critical to serious.

Doctor's Hospital PR manager Barclay Bishop said in a release that the criteria used for determining critical condition in a patient are that vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits, that the patient may be unconscious, and indicators are unfavorable. With patients in serious condition, their vitals are also unstable and not within normal limits, that the patient is acutely ill, and indicators are questionable.

Copeland, 24, has been hospitalized since early May when she began exhibiting symptoms related to the flesh eating bacteria that has ravaged her system. Since she was hospitalized, Copeland has lost her hands, left leg and right foot to the disease.